


Bad Jokes and Broken Promises

by UnholyPinecone



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Genocide, based on a theory, chara was friends with sans and he didn't know how messed up chara was
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 05:11:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6270910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnholyPinecone/pseuds/UnholyPinecone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans never really knew how messed up Chara was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Jokes and Broken Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the theory of [Chara and Sans](http://saveloadreset.tumblr.com/post/141150770673/coolskeleton95-sans-and-chara) by [saveloadreset.tumblr.com](http://saveloadreset.tumblr.com/). I just fell in love with the theory, and needed to write something about it.
> 
> Not beta'd, and I kinda messed up on the timelines. So, sorry.
> 
> Enjoy!

“What’s the difference between chemistry and biology then?”

 

“heh. kid. you know we’re talking about physics, right?”

 

“I’m just saying! Since cells use a lot of chemical processes, and they correlate a lot with chemistry, can’t we just combine the two classes?”

 

“Um. Chara, I don’t think that’s-” Bless the prince.

 

“It’d save a lot more time, wouldn’t it?”

 

Tutoring the Dreemurr children was absolutely bone-tiring.

 

Chara was smart, but they didn’t really want to devote a lot of time towards anything other than biology when they learned they can cut things up in later classes.

 

But Asriel was considerably better. Though not as bright, the prince does make an effort in class. However, Chara easily distracts them.

 

Not to mention Chara easily distracts the prince _. _

 

Maybe he should stop teaching the kid before they get smarter.

 

“Hey, Asriel.” Chara whispers in the middle of a test.

 

“Sh! Chara!”

 

“What did the brother cell say when his sister stepped on his toe?”

 

“Are you trying to get us in trouble?”

 

_ There’s only two students in their class, it’s a private tutoring session! _

 

“do you want to have a bad time, kid?”

 

“Mitosis.” Chara grinned at him.

 

Sans lets them off.

 

* * *

 

“how are you going to be a...sovereign, if you don’t focus on your classes, kid?”

 

Chara was quiet at that, looking at the test. They were mostly right answers, they just didn’t show their work.

 

“I got the answers right.”

 

“you gotta understand something, kid. getting right answers doesn’t always mean you got them the right way. the ends don’t justify the means.”

 

“Who cares anyway, I’m not going to be sovereign or anything.” They scoffed, the light filtering in through the stained glass windows of the castle.

 

“why not?”

 

“Asriel can do perfectly fine on his own.”

 

“doesn’t mean you can’t help him.”

 

“I’m not exactly supposed to be here.” They make a point of not looking at him.

 

“hey, kid. of course you are. you’re smart, you just need to work hard and i’m sure you can do anything you want.”

 

Chara doesn’t make eye contact with him a lot. They don’t make a lot of eye contact with anyone save for the Royal Family. But they’re looking at him now.

 

“You’re lying, aren’t you?”

 

Somehow he’s offended.

 

“i’m not lying, kiddo. you’re a smart kid. you just gotta put a bit more  _ backbone _ into it.”

 

They snort.

 

“You know what? You’re not bad. You’re actually pretty  _ humerus _ .”

 

They grin at each other.

 

“welp. i’m going to grillby’s. wanna come?”

 

Chara hesitates.

 

“Actually?”

 

“yeah. gotta bring the future sovereign of the kingdom to get closer to their people, don’t you think?”

 

“But Snowdin’s so far.”

 

“no worries. i know a shortcut.”

A blink.

 

“Woah! How did you do that?” Chara stared at him in amazement. They were at Grillby’s, near the front door. The smells of food immediately replaced the scent of the sterilized lab.

 

“like i said. i know a short cut.”

 

“Is it magic?”

 

“maybe.” He winked.

 

“I wish I could do magic.” They murmur.

 

“well you humans have your determination, don’t ya?” Sans grins. “plus, i’m pretty sure i can teach you a thing or two.”

 

“Really? You can teach me magic?”

 

“sure, why not. maybe it’ll be a bit different, ‘cause you’re not a monster. but sure.”

 

“When can we start?”

 

“maybe we’ll start when you’re a bit older.”

 

He’s never seen Chara smile that happily before. Their smiles may always be a bit eerie, but he finds that he doesn’t mind much.

 

“Promise?”

 

“sure, kid.” He grins.

 

They order fries, crisped to a golden brown and lightly salted. Grillby’s was the absolute best restaurant in the entire underground.

 

“ketchup?” The skeleton offers.

 

Chara shook their head, already wolfing down the fries, body hunched over their food almost posessively.

 

“welp. more for me then.” Sans drinks the ketchup, and watch as Chara stares at him in both stunned amazement and disgust.

 

“what?” He grins.

 

“Nothing.” Chara murmurs as they go back to eating their fries. “ _ Bone _ appetit.”

 

Sans grins.

 

* * *

 

Chara loves gardening, knitting, and drawing. One could say that they’re quite the virtuoso.

 

Quite the prodigy.

 

Their grades have drastically improved, and a lot of their time is spent either with Asriel or at the lab with Sans and Gaster.

 

Mostly because Gaster was studying ‘Determination’, that power humans have that somehow makes them stronger than monsters.

 

“I would tell you a chemistry joke, but all of them  _ argon _ .”

 

Sans grins. “c’mon kid. you can do better than that.”

 

“What? It’s one of my best ones. Fine.” Chara pauses. “What do you do to a dead chemist?”

 

“That’s a lot of chemistry jokes, Chara. Don’t you have any other ones?” Gaster signs.

 

They ignore Gaster. “You  _ barium _ .”

 

They laugh, and exchange jokes even as Gaster hooks Chara up to the DT extractor, and even when it hurts them briefly, just for a moment, they still make more terrible bad jokes.

 

* * *

Chara’s progress has improved a lot recently.

 

Sans grins as he reads the joke written on the back of the test in neat handwriting.

 

_ Don’t trust atoms. They make up everything. _

 

He puts a small  _ +1  _ beside it. Maybe he’s playing favourites, but he doesn’t really mind much.

 

-

 

“It’s okay, Chara. Just give it to him!” He hears whispers down the hall.

 

“give what to who, kid?”

 

Chara blushes, and Asriel starts talking.

 

“Chara dre-” The prince was immediately cut off by a hand over their mouth.

 

“I-it’s nothing.” Chara stutters. Clearly hiding something behind them.

 

“ _ tibia _ honest, kid. you’re acting really suspicious.”

 

They smile at the pun, before finally sighing and giving it to him.

 

“Asriel’s going to sneak it to you anyway.”

 

“Hey!”

 

It was a picture. A badly drawn picture but a picture nonetheless. Of him, Gaster, and Chara smiling.

 

“It’s bad. I know.”

 

Sans was almost speechless.

 

“it’s not bad- it’s actually pretty good. i like it. thanks, kid.” He grins. “and i thought you should take art lessons before.”

 

Chara blushes at the praise.

 

“Th-thanks.”

 

“i should be the one thanking you, kiddo.” Sans grins. “c’mere.”

 

Chara is trembling a bit in his arms, he pretends not to notice.

 

* * *

Sans takes Chara to Grillby’s multiple times. Sometimes Chara would talk with others. Sans knew they were a good kid, who cared for everyone.

 

Sans just didn’t know how  _ broken _ they actually were.

 

-

 

_ It hurt. _

 

Everything hurt. Why is his head hurting so much?  _ W...X...Y...Z...A...B...C...D… _

 

_ W...X...A...C...Y….D… _

 

_ W...X...A...Y...D… _

 

What’s wrong? Something’s wrong. Something’s missing.

 

_ W...X...Y...D… _

 

Something’s wrong. Something’s not right.

 

_ W….D…. _

 

_ W...D… _

 

_ W..D.. _

 

_ W. D. _

 

Right. How could he forget?

 

W.D. Gaster.

 

_ How could he forget Gaster? _

 

Who?

 

_ W. D. Gaster. _

 

Who is he again?

 

_ Sans. W. D. Gaster’s son, apprentice, and lab partner. _

 

Who is he?

 

_ The Royal Scientist. _

 

What happened to him?

 

_ W. D. Gaster? _

 

Who is that?

 

Chara? What happened to Chara?  _ Chara! _

 

Sans didn’t know where he was, only went to the DT Extractor. No Chara.

 

Are they safe? What happened?

 

* * *

 

Chara barely has memories.

 

“Gaster? Who’s-” Asriel trails off, as if they were remembering something. “Who’s that?”

 

But there was that recognition in Chara.

 

“Hey, Chara. Didn’t you ask about him too?”

 

Chara nods, their red eyes wide, and looks at Sans.

 

There was an unspoken agreement between them.

 

“So who’s Gaster?” Asriel asks again.

 

“No one you need to worry about.” Chara says.

 

They don’t talk about Gaster after that.

 

And Sans writes  _ don’t forget _ on the picture that Chara drew. Because he can’t remember what Gaster looked like if he didn’t.

 

* * *

The place of Royal Scientist remains empty. People vaguely remember there was a Royal Scientist. They just don’t remember who or what or when.

 

Chara grew unfocused, quieter. Sans stops them after one of their classes.

 

“hey, kid, you alright?”

 

They nod.

 

“wanna go to grillby’s? i think we need to talk.”

 

They nod.

 

Chara doesn’t eat as much. In fact, they don’t even touch the fries.

 

“ketchup?”

 

They shake their head.

 

“welp. more for me.” Sans downs the bottle again, looking at Chara. But Chara doesn’t even look at him.

 

“Do you think that I hurt people around me?”

 

The question catches him by surprise.

 

“no. why- why would you think that, kid?” Sans asks.

 

“People around me have bad luck. That’s what they said.”

 

“who said that?”

 

“Humans. On the surface.”

 

“well they don’t really matter here. you’re stuck here with us now, kid. and those humans don’t matter.”

 

“You’ll have bad luck too, if you stay with me.”

 

“what about your parents, kid?”

 

They don’t say anything, and look at their food.

 

Chara was trembling again, but they don’t dare cry in a public place.

 

“hey, it’s okay.”

 

“Asriel- Asriel and I put buttercups in- butterscotch pie.” They hiccup. “And- And dad got really sick because of that.”

 

“hey, it was an accident, kid. don’t worry about it.”

 

Chara breaks down crying, and they get a few stares. He knows it wasn’t about butterscotch pie .Sans takes another shortcut, to a dock in waterfall where Chara could cry freely.

 

“Will he ever come back?”

 

“he will. i’ll make sure of it.”

 

“Promise?”

 

“promise.”

 

He’ll pay for the food later.

 

Secretly, Sans starts working on a machine to bring Gaster back.

 

* * *

Sans walks past the bustling servants, the panicked whispers in the halls.

 

He smells death in the room. Death and golden flowers. Golden flowers everywhere.

 

Asriel is sitting beside Chara, crying.

 

“You have to.” Chara was whispering to him. They seemed so weak now. So fragile, their skin as thin as paper, bones sticking out of their body. It’s as if they can barely keep their eyes open.

 

Sans walks up to them.

 

“hey kid.”

 

Chara smiles. “Greetings. Did you hear about the man who got cut in half?”

 

Sans was confused for a moment.

 

“He’s all right now.” They laugh, and cough, and red spills over the sheets.

 

Sans hasn’t heard a joke from them in so long, and he couldn’t even laugh.

 

“Chara!” Asriel scrambles to get towels.

 

Their soul is pulsing weakly, as red as the colour of their blood.

 

“Sorry I’ve been missing class, sir.” Chara jokes. “I’ve been quite preoccupied lately.”

 

And it was a morbid,  _ morbid _ sense of humour.

 

They sigh. “You two are no fun. Asriel, can you go get me some more flowers?”

 

Asriel shakily rises to his feet, nods, and flees the room.

 

“So why are you here?” Their voices were little whispers in the room that fades as soon as they leave their mouth. “Feeling  _ bonely _ ?”

 

Sans grins. “yeah. after all. i have  _ no body _ with me at the lab.”

 

“That was so bad.” They grin. “I’m going to miss your bad jokes.”

 

“who said anything about missing?”

 

“Come on.” Chara coughs again. “You know I’m not going to live long.”

 

“you just gotta stay determined, kid.”

 

“Determination, huh.” Chara smiles. “Can you promise me something?”

 

“sure, kid. anything.”

 

“I-if...If other kids like me fall...C-can you protect the...Can you protect the monsters?”

 

Sans doesn’t think a lot about why Chara wanted to protect the monsters instead of the humans. Sans was only worried about how pale Chara was and the determined look in their eyes.

 

“i promise.”

 

They smile.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Silence.

 

“Hey, why are graveyards so noisy?”

 

“why?”

 

“Because of all the  _ coffin. _ ”

 

He laughs, for their sake.

 

* * *

The day that Chara and Asriel passes is a sad day for everyone.

 

Sans locks himself up in the house he buys for Papyrus and him in Snowdin.

 

Asgore asks him to be a Royal Scientist. He refuses.

 

Life goes on.

 

He remembers that he never did teach Chara how to use magic.

 

* * *

He hates the resets. If everything was going to be reset anyway, why bother?

 

He kills and slaughters the children, and brings their soul to Asgore.

 

Asgore has killed four children, while he has killed three.

 

* * *

He never brings Gaster back. He just couldn’t. He keeps on trying, breaks machines, and it was just impossible.

 

He says sorry to Chara.

 

Over, and over again.

 

* * *

He hasn’t had this much fun with bad jokes ever since-

 

Well, ever since Chara passed away.

 

He finds himself going to the door of the ruins each day, every day.

 

Just to cope.

 

Then the Lady makes him promise not to hurt a human child.

 

He hesitates.

 

And says.

 

“yeah, sure.”

 

* * *

The kid wasn’t even human.

 

They weren’t kind. Chara was kind. He knew Chara was.

 

But this human child had something broken inside.

 

They had a soul as red and determined as Chara’s.

 

But far from the kindness that Chara has.

 

Sans tries to keep his promise to the Lady behind the Door.

 

And then they kill Papyrus.

 

* * *

“do you want to have a bad time? ‘cause if you take another step forward...you’re REALLY not going to like what happens next.”

 

The kid takes a step forward.

 

“welp. sorry old lady. this is why i never make promises.”

 

Sans kills them. And they reset.

 

This happens over and over again.

 

* * *

_ Protect the monsters _ . Chara once said, once made him promise.

 

Promise. Promise. Promises.

 

He hates making promises.

 

He kills the kid, over and over again, and tricks the kid into sparing them before murdering them.

 

The kid comes back.

 

“you gotta learn when to QUIT.”

 

But they were determined. They were extremely determined.

 

Just like Chara.

 

* * *

“welp. i’m going to grillby’s.” He looks at the human. And he thinks he can see Chara. But no, they’re not Chara. Chara is kind. He knows they are.

 

He walks away.

 

“papyrus, do you want anything?”

  
Sans never knew what Chara was really like.


End file.
